Cancer patients with HIV have higher mortality rates

HealthDay News — Patients with HIV and cancer have increased cancer-specific mortality, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Anna E. Coghill, PhD, from the National Cancer Institute in Rockville, Maryland, and colleagues examined the effect of HIV on cancer-specific mortality. Cases of 14 common cancers were identified in six U.S. states participating in a linkage of cancer and HIV/AIDS registries. Data were included for 1,816,461 patients with cancer, of whom 0.36% were HIV positive.

For anal cancer, Hodgkin's lymphoma, or diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, HIV was not associated with increased cancer-specific mortality. HIV remained associated with elevated cancer-specific mortality in non-AIDS-defining cancers: colorectum, lung, melanoma, and breast cancers (aHRs, 1.40, 1.28, 1.93, and 2.64), after further adjustment for cancer treatment.

"The elevation in cancer-specific mortality among HIV-infected patients may be attributable to unmeasured stage or treatment differences as well as a direct relationship between immunosuppression and tumor progression," the researchers wrote.

ClinicalAdvisor.com is for nurse practitioners and physician assistants, offering the latest information on diagnosing, treating, managing, and preventing medical conditions typically seen in the office-based primary-care setting.

Find all of the news and departments you love from the print issue archived for easy online access, along with special Web-only content.